U Georgia Goes Open Source for Student Portal

The portal, MyUGA, is designed to provide resources mainly for currently enrolled students. Resources include e-mail, important links (such as help desk, directory, etc.), calendar information, a campus map, weather information, news, and other features.

uPortal is an open source enterprise portal that's built on Java, XML, JSP, and Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technologies, providing a framework for building portals with standards-based integration (including authentication and security applications), single login, and customization.

Unicon, which provides services for uPortal in the areas of deployment, customization, integration, and general support, worked with U Georgia IT staff on "planning, configuration, implementation, branding, and training," according to the company.

"We are very pleased with the successful launch of our MyUGA next-generation student portal based on uPortal. This open source solution provides us with a secure and scalable enterprise platform with the capability to evolve and expand our online services in the future," said Rehan Khan, associate CIO, University of Georgia, in a prepared statement. "Working with Unicon's excellent professional services team for our portal implementation was a good choice for us. It enabled our internal IT staff to stay focused on the critical areas of their responsibility, and we could still meet our goals and deadlines for launching MyUGA."

A seminar on the implementation will be held at an upcoming conference June 2. Further information can be found here.

About the Author

David Nagel is edtorial director, education for 1105 Media's Public Sector Media Group. A 22-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.